They must find it difficult, those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority.

Friday, May 21, 2010

CDC misled DC residents about lead levels in water, House probe finds

But this is the government. This isn't a corporation. Why would the government mislead people about the safety of their drinking water? This is just so disheartening. But drink the tap water anyway. Because that bottled water is destroying the planet. Dumping toxic industrial waste into the water isn't destroying the planet. The empty bottles of water are.

The nation's premier public health agency knowingly used flawed data to claim that high lead levels in the District's drinking water did not pose a health risk to the public, a congressional investigation has found. And, investigators determined, the agency has not publicized more thorough internal research showing that the problem harmed children across the city and continues to endanger thousands of D.C. residents.

A House investigative subcommittee concludes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made "scientifically indefensible" claims in 2004 that high lead in the water was not causing noticeable harm to the health of city residents. As terrified District parents demanded explanations for the spike in lead in their water, the CDC hurriedly published its calming analysis, knowing that it relied on incomplete, misleading blood-test results that played down the potential health impact, the investigation found.

The city utility says lead levels have been in the safe range in D.C. water since 2006, after a chemical change to reduce lead leaching. But the House report raises concerns about children in 9,100 residences throughout the city with partial lead-pipe replacements. Their parents may not know CDC research has found that children in such homes are four times as likely to have elevated lead in their blood.